The floor of the Moscow Metro with a sweet candy coating. It's irreverent, cogent, and produced by contributers who are Eurasian area specialists.
Just because the Kremlin denied it does not make us wrong.

Mar 4, 2008

The Council of Europe issued a negative report on the Russian presidential elections, citing lack of media freedom, denial of candidates, and ballot stuffing at the polls -- the usual suspects. CE delegation head Andreas Gross noted that the "democratic potential" of the Russian electorate "was unfortunately not tapped."

Remember kids, democracy is just like a beer keg. Dude, where's the tap?

Anyway, Russian Central Election Commission Head Vladimir Churov figured it was his job to respond to the nosey assesments of foreigners. "What should I do, should I make CEC members work naked?" Churov then went in for the kill, "I am unawar of any document which would outline a procedure for the use of democratic potential."

Eternal Remont might gratiously point Mr. Churov to Article 32 of the Russian Constitution. It provides a wonderful outline on the right to vote, the principles of representitve government, and even the process of free and open elections.